Manchester United’s on-loan midfielder Jesse Lingard scored four times on an
extraordinary Birmingham City debut, helping his team to a 4-1 win over
hapless Sheffield Wednesday.

Lingard, a 20-year-old who has joined on a month’s loan, scored a hat-trick in 13 minutes in the first half and added a fourth after half-time. Birmingham coach Terry McDermott said: “Nothing fazes him. Before the game he just sat there for an hour hardly speaking.Then it was like he was playing a game with his mates at school.”

Wednesday manager Dave Jones said: “We allowed him to impress. You cannot allow him to get on the ball, turn and run at us.

“We were capable of getting back into the game but the smallest man of the pitch pushes people off the ball and gets his fourth goal. I can only apologise to the fans for the performance we put in.”

Another Manchester United player, Italian striker Federico Macheda, scored twice on his home debut on loan at Doncaster Rovers. Macheda twice gave his side the lead against Nottingham Forest, who recovered to draw 2-2.

Bolton Wanderers manager Dougie Freedman said he believed he would not be sacked, despite his side’s 3-1 defeat at Brighton leaving them bottom of the Championship table.

Freedman said: “I think my job is very safe. I don’t ignore speculation surrounding my job but I don’t feel the pressure of it. I understand exactly what we have to do to turn things around. We need a couple of players in on loan and time to gel as a team.”

Queens Park Rangers remain top after a 1-0 win at Yeovil which was secured by Charlie Austin’s penatly. Rangers manager Harry Redknapp said he will try to sign a striker on loan. “At the moment, Charlie is having to do it all himself because there is nobody else. But we’ve come to a very difficult place and got a result.”

Burnley moved to second with a 2-1 win at to Leeds United. Manager Sean Dyche said: “The journey can take you anywhere in this division and we’ve made a nice start.”